In the race for Shelby County assessor, Democrat Cheyenne Johnson won 60 percent of the vote, beating Republican Bill Giannini with 40 percent.

About 15 percent of the 624,948 registered voters went to the polls, and although final numbers aren't in, Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans by more than 2 to 1 in early voting.

Mattila, 64, becomes the first Democrat since the advent of countywide partisan primaries to be elected trustee, the county's banker and tax collector.

He succeeds longtime trustee Bob Patterson, a Republican, who was in his fifth term when he died in January of a heart attack. Patterson had served as trustee since 1990.

In lieu of a primary, the county's Democratic and Republican parties selected their nominees -- Mattila and Butler, both with close ties to Patterson.

Mattila, who has worked in the trustee's office since 1997 and most recently as Patterson's legislative assistant, was appointed as interim trustee by the Democrat-controlled Shelby County Commission in February.

He credits his victory to the help of supporters and his six months in office. "People believed in what we were doing," he said. "We got tremendous crossover vote."

Butler, 57, is a certified public accountant who banked on his financial background and close ties to Patterson. Butler served as Patterson's longtime campaign treasurer.

In the race for assessor, Johnson edged out Giannini with a campaign platform of consistency in the assessor's office amid a real estate market in flux.

After three terms in office, Assessor Rita Clark, a Democrat, chose to end her tenure and backed Johnson, 52, as her successor. Johnson worked in the assessor's office for almost 20 years, most recently as Clark's chief administrative officer.

She credited her win to experience and the success of Clark's office. "The progress that the Clark administration has made in the last 12 years is at the standard voters want to see continue."

Giannini, 40, the chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party and a real estate agent for Morris Auction Group, ran on a platform of change in the assessor's office.